Hyderabad, Nov.28 (RAHNUMA): BJP MLA Aaleti Maheshwar Reddy on Friday threw an open challenge to state irrigation minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy for a public debate on the Hyderabad Industrial Land Transformation (HILT) policy, accusing the government of lack of transparency.
Responding to the minister’s remarks that the opposition had failed to understand the policy, Maheshwar Reddy said such comments reflected ‘bankruptcy of thought’. He questioned as to why the Assembly was not being convened if the government believed the policy was transparent.
The BJP leader said he was ready for a face-to-face discussion with the minister at 11 a.m. on Saturday at the Assembly media point, adding that he was open to any date, time or venue suggested by Uttam Kumar Reddy.
Maheshwar Reddy also criticised the Congress government for allegedly adopting irregular practices followed during the previous BRS regime. He questioned why Deputy CM Bhatti Vikramarka and Minister Sridhar Babu, who earlier promised to expose irregularities in industrial land transfers, had remained silent.
Accusing the government of being involved in a ‘Rs.6.29 lakh crore land scam’, he alleged that the HILT policy amounted to ‘land looting, not land conversion’. A ‘land mafia’ was operating under the Congress administration, describing CM A. Revanth Reddy as a ‘land loot mafia don’.
Demanding that GO 27 issued for implementation of HILT be revoked immediately, the BJP MLA warned that the party would launch a statewide agitation if the government failed to discuss the policy in the Assembly before proceeding with it.
